One in ten men have carried out sex offences against children

The 1 in 10 is just about child sex offenders.

I'd expect it to be closer to 3 or 4 in 10 if we included sex offences against women and domestic violence. Definitely 4 in 10,
possibly even 50% if it included coercion and control.

This isn't based on research, just my own guesstimates based on the amount of offences and the men I've known.

I'm not surprised. 1 in 3 men in the UK has a criminal conviction, there are clearly a lot of morally inept men out there. Disgusting either way.

I am really shocked by this. Absolutely horrific.

I should not be surprised though as so many men seem to think that teenage girls are fair game...

I've worked in a voluntary capacity with sex offenders, I was abused as a child and worked at a rape crisis centre so I don't think I'm naive...

I genuinely don't believe this is true though.
It's something that person told themselves to justify their deviant behaviour.

Firstly, one man is no more likely to know 'what all men think' than you, I or anyone else on this thread. They're not telepathically connected!

Secondly, research undertaken previously has been in the ballpark of what this survey shows. So it's a horribly large percentage when you apply it to people you know...but still a minority of men.

When I was about 19 I was waiting at a bus stop on a quiet road leading out of my local village, and a car being driven by a man in his mid to late 30s went past me up and down a couple of times. He came past again, pulled up and asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said yes and he said something along the lines of, “oh that’s a shame..” He then asked me how old I was. I said I was 19, he looked shocked and replied, “really?! I thought you were about 14…” (I’m only 5’2 and have always been petite so appear younger.) He drove off after that, horrible to wonder what he was thinking!

Also freely available online porn is awash with simulated incest and paedophilia it is obviously something there is considerable demand for.

TBH I think this should be discussed on the main boards as well as under Feminism.

It doesn't surprise me TBH. 1 in 5 children are sexually abused and mostly by someone they know well.

It stands to reason that it isn't a few individuals committing mass abuse.

If you ask adult survivors of child sex abuse they will usually tell you it was a family member who perhaps abused no-one else or one or two other children.

A lot of men are sexual opportunists and literally anyone would do. I also think that attraction to young teenagers is something to do with objectification and the idea that they are easy to control similar to the trope that older women are all desperate, hypersexual and grateful for any attention. I think porn also plays a part in pushing these tropes and encouraging fetishization of women at any age.

Its not all men but enough for it to be pervasive and hugely problematic.

It doesn’t surprise me. I know several people sexually assaulted as children including myself. I’ve always thought it must be more common than people think. I‘m very wary of men especially around my daughter. Depresses me immensely

This always makes me worry when my son goes off into a man's toilet on his own. At least in the women's, I could be there with him.

So, the report is impossible to find and only The Times is running this story. Childlight is taking part in a conference next week so my guess is the report has been provided to The Times as an exclusive, specifically selling them on the more salacious pieces of info to make it more "newsworthy" and will be published at this event next week.

I'm going to hold fire until I've seen the actual report.

Those are really good points. I often wonder if I suffer some rose tinted memory of the past. I seem to recall more stigma. But as you say, underage girls were routinely labelled as Lolitas and slags, and victim shamed/blamed.

The grooming scandals and screaming tabloid headlines in the 90s and 00s saying feral girls got what was coming. Maybe not pedophilia excusing, but certainly laying blame on girls who can't be guilty of anything.

I remember reading an article published by the police years ago, saying there were far far too many paedophiles for it to ever be possible to charge them all. Evidence in spades to lock up thousands of known offenders. Simply not enough police or court time (or prison space probably). Only the most prolific or extremely violent offenders are pursued.

That line obviously stood out to us in exactly the same way. I would be interested to understand more about what it is really saying.

Online porn is also a danger to children because so many are seeing it and it must be affecting their view of relationships and sex.

The internet can be such a useful tool in the right hands and a force for evil in the wrong ones.

I am, sadly, usually right up in the "men are bastards" camp but I think this report needs a bit more careful analysis. eg, this line, Almost one in twenty (4.8 per cent) of those surveyed said they had had sexual contact with a child when they themselves were aged 18 or older. - they haven't defined what this means but it could realistically be an 18 year old having sex with a 16 year old, which I think most of us would agree is far less likely to be abuse/exploitation.

Also 1500 self selected anonymous respondents doesn't feel great to me, I'd like to see a more detailed view of who responded and how they were found. I feel like there might be an element of self selection - if DH saw an online ad asking for respondents on child exploitation, I don't think he'd be rushing to fill it in as it just wouldn't seem relevant to him.

Don't get me wrong, sexual exploitation of children is clearly a huge issue and I don't want to downplay it, but I don't think this is helpful necessary.

<goes off to see if I can find the underlying report>

Do we really think there is less social stigma now? I feel like the opposite, teenage girls used to be victim-blamed as “jailbait”, and teachers fucking 14 and 15 year olds was seen as a joke (watch “Clockwise” if you want to see a film that hasn’t aged well). It was accepted that pop stars fucked barely-pubescent girls (David Bowie’s 11 year olds), and the girls were blamed for it.

I feel like it is now seen as completely unacceptable for adult men to have sex with teenagers. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen of course, but any man doing it would be completely ostracised from my social circle, even if the girl was technically legal. I assumed that was why it was done covertly over the internet, rather than picking the girls up from school in their cars.

I can't believe it is only 1 in 10 pretty sure it is higher. As a young teen i had way too many pervy men hit on me.

I don't think all men think it, for a start some men are specifically attracted to older women, not interested in their own age group let alone children.

So are they talking about under 18s? I'd think more men than that have had thoughts or actions regarding 16 and 17 year old girls. 18 year old sixth former with a 16 or 17 year old sixth former is no issue is it and when they say Almost one in twenty (4.8 per cent) of those surveyed said they had had sexual contact with a child when they themselves were aged 18 or older. That could easily be two sixth formers and I'd be surprised if that was as low as 4.8 per cent. At the other end of the scale if 4.8 per cent of 18 plus men have had sexual contact with a five year old that is horrific.

I think I'd want to see the details as it comes across as rampant men after little children but that might or might not be what they are talking about.

I'm not denying there is a problem, used to work for the police and have prepared too many files for court for rape/assault/child abuse but I would still like more clarity on what they were actually asking.

I do think that there needs to be more control of online pornography and abuse, apart from anything else it allows deviants to meet up safely and convince each other they are normal, much more so than in real life.

Probably anyone who’s been a teenage girl finds this plausible.

1 in 10 feels about right. The "all men think it" is the sort of thing people DO say to normalise it/justify it. The same way that the line of "they are just trying to police normal male sexuality" gets used (and of course that is also an appeal to regular men who don't want their sexuality policed). But that's a whole other discussion.

This is not in the slightest bit true, as a man I would never even think about it let alone do it, I cant even read newspaper reports about it.

However, I do expect the 1 in 10 is probably about right.

Not surprised. 97% of women will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. One in four will be the victim of domestic abuse. Even if we allow for some men being repeat offenders that’s a huge proportion of abusive males.

It sickens me to know that if the 100 men I work, 10 are statistically likely to be abusers and commit violence against women and girls. Which 10? I have a good working relationship with all of them.

Man here. I'm both not surprised yet totally perturbed by this report. Unfortunately the problem is also exacerbated by misogyny. Is it any "worse" than the past? Statistically, maybe, but not clear. Are we more aware of it? Evidently by this article, yes. Are there more avenues for men? Undoubtedly, yes.

For me, the main difference between now and "then", is societal indifference, blurring of boundaries, reduction in custodial sentences, the metastasisation of porn and sex work, and lobby group widening of the thin end.

There is genuinely less social stigma, so if perps or potential perps feel less isolated, less hemmed in, less judged, well, their bad behaviour will worsen and increase. Across the board.